Destruction of the Dragon Lair
This is a side story to Nowie's The Tale of Team Moon Drop. For the first part see White Skull vs Blood Rain. Martial Arts and Swords Nora Valentine and Maria Shields had finally managed to struggle to their feet and had their blades drawn. They stood there staring eachother down and both slowly moving left, drawing a large circle that would be their battleground. Lucian Crimea had managed to carry his companion, The Eternal Knight back into the Guild's building so that the armored man could recover. The entire area echoed and resounded with the sounds of the battle between Kharlan Feaw and Parius Chitose and the one sided battle between Innith Aqune and Atama Chitose. "All your Guild Leaders have been out here fighting." Maria said. "So?" Nora demanded. "It's a huge building, but are there only five of you?" Maria asked. "Is that why you were trying to recruite me and Chitose?" "If it was up to me," a voice snapped. "Nora wouldn't be a member. She'd be six feet under." They turned to see the speaker, though Nora already knew who it was. "What are you doing out here, Ryūji?" Nora asked. "Lucian ordered me to come out here and help." Akiyama Ryūji replied. "Why didn't he send Vanisha?" Nora demanded. "The zealot is punishing himself again." Akiyama replied. "So I came out instead." "Then stay out of the way and go somewhere else." Nora spat. "No." Akiyama retorted. "I'm going to defeat Maria and hand her over to our leaders. And maybe you'll become an 'unfortunate' casualty on the field of battle." "You plan to kill me?" Nora snarled. "Perhaps." Akiyama replied, then charged foreward. Leaping into the air, he swung at Nora with enough force to shatter her skull. Casually commenting "whoops" he continued his assault, completely ignoring Maria. As Nora was pushed back, the Sword of 1000 Elements began to attempt her escape. Seeing her, Nora used her Arc of Time, casting Rot Pit underneath Akiyama before lining up her blade next to Maria's neck. Before being able to utter a single threat, she jumped up, dodging an attack from both Maria and Akiyama. Leaning her body against the fellow swordswoman, she rotated so that Maria was now in the middle of the three of them. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the sixth general lunged at the silver haired woman, seeing her as an interference towards his kill. "Open Palm Lightning Blade!" Akiyama's hand was instantly coated with Lightning Magic, a trait that Maria knew all too well that it would be able to pierce her body withe ease. Narrowing her eyes, the swordswoman countered, coating her blade in her own Lightning Magic and managing to deflect Akiyama's hand by a while. Taking advantage of the situation, Nora leapt, madly slicing at the general only to give him a wound rather than a mortal blow. Landing behind of him, she twirled, yelling out "Rot Pit!" The ground quickly decayed once again, however Akiyama simply scoffed. "That trick never works Valentine!" before quickly grabbing the edge, leaping into the air before the ground decayed. While in the air, Maria casted her Earth Magic, causing disturbances and erupting pillars of stone from the field. Looking below, he cursed before listing all his spells in his mind before settling for the most appropriate one "Open Palm Wind Shove!" The spell took both of his hands to blow away the pillars, something which Nora noticed. Leaping up, she swung, her blade aimed at Akiyama's neck. Noticing her movement and with both hands focused on the ground, he cursed before blood splattered onto the ground. In the Dragon Lair Lucian had finally gotten Eternal to the sixth floor of the guild and was quietly berrating himself for only being able to find Akiyama Hajime Ryūji, knowing he was more likely to fight with Nora Valentine than anyone else, but unfortunately Vanisha Vairocana had locked himself up somewhere on the fifth floor and was punishing himself for "failing" his mission. "He has enough power to possibly become a Co-Leader of the guild if one of us kicks the bucket and he spends all his free time harming himself." Lucian muttered. "I just don't understand that man." Eternal, as always, remained silent in his armor. "And Five, that wild card, is nowhere to be seen..." Lucian sighed as he helped Eternal into a seat. "That man..." Eternal said. Lucian started a bit, not expecting his friend to speak so suddenly. "Who? Five?" Lucian asked. "Or Vanisha?" "No...Parius Chitose." Eternal answered. "He is a worthy opponent...he easily took on the two of us." "Yeah..." Lucian agreed with a sigh. "And he didn't even break a sweat, it seemed." "I would like to fight him again." Eternal said, and Lucian could've sworn that The Eternal Knight was smiling under his helm. "You should recover first." Lucian replied. "Besides, I believe Kharlan is fighting him now." Looking outside the window, Eternal commented "That's right...but no matter how strong he is, a Hawk will never be able to defeat a Dragon" "Ah yes however" Lucian commented "He's the white hawk" "Does colour actually make a difference?" Hesitating, Lucian answered "No, not really" ---- The Black Dragon's strength was nothing but a myth, a mere tale that weaklings had thought up to exaggerate their loss. His sword was a flimsy as a piece of thin plastic, breakable with a mere kick. The battle had just started and Kharlan didn't need Innith's help in fact, he was holding back from slaughtering him from the spot...rather, that's what was supposed to happen. On the ground, heavily wounded, Kharlan looked up at his opponent with one eye, the other shut due to the wound just above the eye. "...Pitiful enemy of mine...lying on the ground like a wounded animal ah yes, you did say you were a Hawk before did you not?" Parius said. Observing Kharlan with cold eyes, he raised his blade, prepared to end the battle in one fell swoop. Seeing the rising blade, the General saw this as an opportunity, molding his magic into a dense material, he released it from his mouth in a frenzied tornado, mentally shouting Wind Magic Destruction Arts: Impacting Sky Breath!. The tornado flew straight towards Parius and hit him however, it failed to cause any particular harm. His right arm stretched out infront of him, Parius' sleeve was shredded and the hand was cut but apart from that, no harm had been done. Raging, Kharlan lifted himself with his left arm, swinging his leg at Parius from the right. Without batting so much as an eyelid, the Chitose blocked his kick with the same hand, holding it in an iron grip and swinging him around before letting go, sending him tumbling a distance away. Landing on the ground, Kharlan twisted his body before pointing his right leg at the Black Dragon before yelling out Tornado Lance!. A pillar of coiling wind erupted from his foot before charging at Parius however, like all his other attacks, they were simply swatted away. The difference in strength was far too great...there was just no way Kharlan could win on his own. Parius raised Juuchi Yosamu above his head, ready to kill the man before him. He swung the black blade down, but before it reached its intended target Parius lept far to the left. Before Kharlan could wonder why there was a cloud of dust as the ground seemingly exploded before him. The dust settled and where Parius had been standing was now the First General of QuadDracoras. "Vanisha, I didn't know you were out here." Kharlan said. "I finished my punishment and was coming out for another job when I saw Akiyama and Nora fighting and some other swordswoman." Vanisha replied. "Then I saw you, Kharlan-dono, and felt this man's killing intent." "Well, take care of him then." Kharlan said, waving his arm as if he was uninterested in the fight that nearly killed him. "Yes! Kharlan-dono!" Vanisha roared then ran at Parius. "You think your underling can take me when you couldn't?" Parius asked, insulted by the idea, but at the same time he had seen the damage to the ground this newcomer had done and without a trace of magic used. 'He could prove problematic...' Parius thought as he once again lept out of the way of an incredibly destructive punch. Again Vanisha was obscured by dirt and dust. "I am the Pride that is the downfall of all." Vanisha's words reached Parius and the Chitose felt a pulse of what he could best describe as pure evil. "Fallen Angel Soul: Lucifer." From within the dust, Parius stared as the shadow of a human grew, morphing into what he assumed to be a winged animal. As the dust settled, he began to smile, wondering out loud "First they send Humans...now Demons?" In front of him, in simple terms stood a demon. massive clawed wings, dark fur, dark purple skin, massive horns, a pentagram on one shoulder, extended arms with huge claws and fang-like teeth, it was the image of somebody who looked as if they made a contract with the devil itself. Smirking, the Black Dragon uttered "Alright...so you grew bigger, does that actually make a difference?" Rather than replying; Vanisha roared, the pitch so high it almost burst the ear drums of anybody in the area. While roaring, Parius sighed, leaping up to Vanisha's face before saying "Guess I'm gonna have to talk with brute strength then" Swinging his blade with immense force, the blow knocked the Take Over Mage backwards, sending it soaring into the air before it crashed onto the ground, creating a minor tremor. Quickly getting up, Vanisha opened his mouth, mentally casting Light of Hell! A blast of a darker version of light magic burst from his jaws, crashing into the Chitose with lethal force. The blast itself rendered the ground into a large crater however, even then Parius stood at the bottom of the crater, barely even scratched. Quickly climbing his way out, he said "I don't know what you did to me however...that really pissed me off you giant bat" Before leaping forwards, twirling and then smacking Vanisha with so much force that he was once again flying, this time into the QuadDracoras Building. With the fall that Vanisha took, almost a quarter of it was gone in a few seconds. Watching a distance away, Kharlan muttered "Oi...you better get out of that Take Over or else you're gonna piss Innith off Vanisha..." ---- Standing on a tree with her hand over her eyes, Innith "ooh"'d at the sight of Vanisha continuously getting knocked down, destroying the building even more. More or less she was amazed at the fact that something tiny was knocking over the first general, probably Parius. At that thought, Innith put a finger to her chin, wondering what had become of Kharlan before deciding to consult her opponent. Jumping down, she effortlessly grabbed onto several branches, swinging on them so as to slow her fall. Dropping without a sound, she strode over to a collapsed Atama, trying to stand back up with the help of his sword. "Hey Mr. Chitose, can I ask you something?" Innith asked, pretending to be completely oblivious to Atama's struggle. Watching him collapse and then heavily gasp for air, the Sea Fang crouched down, pouting with crossed arms, waiting for him to reply. Seeing that he had ignored her, she proceeded to ask anyways "Are you by any chance embarassed that a little girl beat a Chitose?" From his collapsed position, Atama glared at Innith, making her giggle at his fierce expression. Watching her get up and walk closer, he heard her say "So...were you surprised that a 10 year old girl like me was actually the strongest Leader in this Guild of mine?" Seeing him flinch, the girl began to smile, uttering "Oh yes...are you surprised that I beat Eternal and Lucian? Perhaps also the fact that I brought in Kharlan? Well anyways, uhh...I forgot what I was going to say...hmm, are all Chitoses this weak?" Heavily panting, Atama pushed himself up, muttering "Don't...underestimate me...I haven't...used up all...my strength..." "Ah...but I got rid of your White Flame without even trying...did you know that Fire's weak against Water?" "I...know that, who doesn't?...However...I still have one more trick..." "Really? Let's see now hmm...you've shown me Fire and then a White Fire...what's next?" Suddenly leaping up, Atama stabbed his blade into a tree trunk, using it as a support he swung himself into the canopy. Preparing his magic, he uttered out Fire Make... From below of him, Innith looked up with a raised eyebrow, curiously remarking "A Molding Magic? That's certainly rare...mind telling me what you'll be making for me?" DRAGON! A large strem of fire erupted from Atama's hand, increasing in size while at the same time viciously coiling and folding, eventually turning into a fearsome Dragon entirely made of Fire. Smirking at this, Innith cast a small droplet of water from her hand and swung it, yelling out Water Bullet! as she did so. However, the droplet evaporated before it even came close to the dragon, causing Innith to take a step back in shock. Seeing the Leader, the Molding Magic stared before letting out a fearsome roar, once that caused an old habit of hers to rise up again. Kharlan had told her that it was a bad habit but she couldn't help it, the word slipped out at the situation she was now in "...shit" At the Dragon's Gate Akiyama groaned as he shoved rubble off of himself and gasped sharply at the pain in his arm. "Stupid zealot..." he muttered, Parius and Vanisha's fight having moved from destroying half of QuadDracoras' building back to leveling the charred forest. He gripped his arm tightly to try and stem the bloodflowing from his arm. "But it seems he at least burried that irritating stray...and Shields." No sooner had he finished the sentence than a flash of light caught his eyes and the clashing of steel on steel rang through the air. "Or not..." he sighed, turning to see the two swordswomen still at their fight. Sword-like rocks stood out like gravestones all around them. Some of them were half-rotted away, some were scorched, ice coated others, some were damp where they were cleanly cut, lightning crackled and the wind shrieked as it was violently torn assunder. Crescent blades of light and darkness arced through the sky and Akiyama could feel the ferocity of the battle from the several yards he was from it. "As much as I hate her..." Akiyama muttered. "She has earned her title of General." A noise unlike any other that the Martial Artist had ever heard in his life made his blood freeze and curdle all at once. He turned to face the noise as saw a massive creature, it looked like a dragon, it moved like a dragon, it sounded like a dragon, but that couldn't be what it was. This crimson creature seemed to flicker like a flame, the air above it rippled like water into which a stone had been thrown and the already charred trees upon which it perched smoked and smoldered, wanting to burst into flames, but any sparks released seemed quickly engulfed by the body of this monster. A cloud of steam rose above it and Akiyama could only assume that it was Innith fighting it. "H-have the dragons actually returned?" he stammered. "Or is this some illusion? If it is...who could be capable of actually creating a dragon at will?" Trapped within his fascination at the sight of the Dragon, he failed to notice as Nora swiped at him with her blade. Barely dodging, he jumped away from the swing, sporting a heavily bleeding arm. However, within a single moment, Akiyama ducked once again, dodging another sword swing, this time coming from a fairly fatigued Maria Shields. Fairly irritated, with a single arm he shouted out "Open Palm Wind Shove!" But rather than pushing her back, Maria was shoved to the ground with the heavy wind strike. As Akiyama leapt onto her, more than prepared to beat her with a single arm, the ground below him began to crumble. Cursing, he heard Nora shout out "Rot Pit!" Roughly landing on his injured arm, Akiyama slowly got up, realizing that the particular Pit that Nora had trapped him and Maria in was actually fairly deep, as well as quite wide. Even without his arm injured, it would take a few minutes to climb out with the help of his magic. Sighing, he turned to a surprisingly unconscious Maria, deciding to kill her despite Kharlan's orders. Afterall, it was Nora's mission, if her target died from an unfortunate accident...well that would be just too bad. ---- As soon as the pair fell down her Pit, Nora turned around, making haste to try and confront the Chitose who has currently playing with Vanisha, further destroying the guild building. Jumping out infront of him, she clashed with his blade, barely being able to keep up the facade of being perfectly fine. Jumping down and facing him, she heard Parius taunt "Hmph...don't you fools know that I can still take on the both of you without even breaking a sweat?" Before seeing him brutally kick Vanisha, sending him flying towards Nora. Once again mustering her strength, she jumped up, this time kicking Vanisha's foot, sending it straight towards the Pit with Akiyama and Maria. Seeing the overwhelming take over headed straight for him, Akiyama shouted out "Oi Vanisha! Get rid of Lucifer or else I'll get crushed!" Barely hearing the cry from his fellow general, Vanisha removed the take over, reverting back to his human form and landing heavily in the pit in a fashion similar to how Akiyama had landed. A second later Nora jumped down as well with a tired yet, gleeful expression on her face. Putting her hand out, she began counting from 5 with a knowing expression. "5..." From above, Parius began walking towards the pit. If all the flies were in there, he could easily use a Death Magic spell rather than one of his sacred Dragon attacks. "4..." Within the pit, Vanisha frowned at Nora, calmly asking her "...What are you counting for?" With a gleam in her eye, she simply smiled and continued counting. "3..." From what was left of the castle that was the Guild Building, a robed figure calmly walked out, spying off in the distance an unfamiliar figure he assumed to be the reason behind the mass destruction of the Guild. "2..." Suddenly breaking into a run, the robed man used his magic to Teleport right behind of the Chitose. Once he was right behind of him, he got his right hand into a Hand Gun motion, index and middle finger pointed out, his left hand reaching into the book that has hidden within his clothes. "1..." Charging up his both his Grimoire and Lightning Magic, Five shouted out in a muffled voice "Grimoire Magic: Destruction, enhance Lightning Magic: Shock!" Hearing the voice right behind of him, Parius turned around, surprised he had failed to notice the person's presence. He held up his blades in an attempt to try and block the attack however, the immense surge of Electricity originating from Five's fingertips coated the Chitose, shocking him with such a high number of volts that he instantly fell unconscious. Tilting his head, Five watched as Nora, accompanied by Akiyama, Vanisha and a girl he had not met before, tiredly climb out of the hole. Flopping on the ground, Nora tiredly panted "So...how was...my plan?" "Plan my ass...that was just luck that Five showed up" Akiyama retorted "I honestly don't care anymore...you can kill me or whatever but for the love of god...please let me rest" Maria panted With a raised eyebrow, Five stared at the unconscious form of the Chitose that had caused his guild so much trouble. "...Was he really that strong? I got him in a single hit" Despite normally being calm or reserved, Vanisha glared at Five, gasping out through gritted teeth "You...damned Canvas...You only got him because...Kharlan-Dono...as well as Lucian and Eternal-Dono...as well as us four over here...weakened him for you..don't be cocky just because you jumped in...when he was weak" Despite wearing a face mask, Five put up a gloved finger to his chin, replying in a mocking manner "Yeah...naa, you're only angry that I beat him and you guys didn't" Immensely annoyed, Nora ignored The Canvas, instead asking Vanisha "Hey...Innith's still fighting right?" "I believe so" "So...should we go help her?" Shrugging, he murmured something that Nora didn't quite catch however, Akiyama interrupted "Actually, I saw a Dragon appear where Innith was. I really think we should go help her" With a raised eyebrow, Five asked "I don't see a Dragon..." "Yeah well...it was there, I'm going anyways, you guys can just sleep while I save a Guild Co-Leader" Clicking their tongues in annoyance, Vanisha got up as Five began walking, both determined to make sure that Akiyama didn't get any credit for the unlikely yet, possible saving of their Guild Leader. The Fights are Finished Vanisha stumbled off after Five and Akiyama. A small trail of blood, from Akiyama's arm, led into what was left of the forest that had surrounded the QuadDracoras Building, which was now all but in ruins. Parius Chitose was still unconscious from his suprise electrocution and Maria and Nora were still unable to move from exhaustion. Over the gasping of the two swordswomen was the sound of a fight still going on in the distance and the laughing of Shiroizugaikotsu. Nora allowed her eyes to close, just for a moment, since she felt almost too tired to even stay awake. Then she noticed, with a start, that the sound of the laughter coming from the Elemental Skeleton Key was beginning to fade away. She forced herself up, and saw Maria Shields hobbling away, using her blade almost like a crutch. "Stop!" Nora screamed at her. "Get back here!" She stood up and went to chase after Maria, but a weak half step and Nora was back on the ground. She tried to use her magic to stop her, and realized that she was out of magic for the time being. 'Damnit!' she roared in her head. 'Damnit, damnit, damnit!' Nora had never failed a job that was given to her by the Co-Leaders before and now she figured she had a pretty good idea about how that zealot Vanisha felt every time he came back from a failed search for dragons. "Next time we meet, Shields!" Nora yelled. "I will kill you! Make no mistake about that!" 'How cliche...' she thought as she passed out, that last proclamation taking what was left of her energy. In the Forest "So where was this 'dragon' you claimed to have seen?" Five asked. Before an Akiyama could answer, there was an explosion, scalding steam envoloped the entire area and something came crashing through the trees. "It's too hot..." a small voice whined from under the fallen trees. "The fire is too hot...my magic won't quench it..." "Innith-dono!" Vanisha gasped as he began throwing the trees aside as if they were just twigs and small limbs. "Are you alright, Innith-dono?" "Mr. Chitose's last trick was really something." she replied. "His flames were so incredibly intense, my Water Magic had almost no effect..." "Where is he?" Five asked, looking around. "I don't know," Innith replied with a yawn. "But I'm so sleepy now." "What happened?" Akiyama asked. "I used Vapour Bomb on that Dragon made of Fire." she answered, yawning even more. "It was so close...now let me sleep..." With that Innith went to sleep and despite her injuries she looked like any other ten year old would if they had fallen asleep after playing for a long time. "That Chitose guy is still around here somewhere." Akiyama said. Five gave a brief nod and the two began searching the area. Vanisha picked up Innith and began carrying her back towards the guild. Before he was even half way back, the other two caught up with him. "He's no where to be seen." Five muttered. "He must've escaped when Innith's spell obscured everything." The continued in silence, other than the soft breathing of their smallest Guild Co-Leader there wasn't a sound. When they got back to the guild the only body they saw still laying near the ruins of their building was Nora's. "Did Parius wake up and leave?" Vanisha asked. "No," Five replied. "My Shock won't wear off for another hour, if he survived it in the first place." "Then the other Chitose must've come back before us and taken the body with him." Akiyama said, then he sighed as if disappointed. The other two figured it was because Nora was clearly still alive and sighed quietly to themselves. The three stood there in silence and stared at what was left of their guild building. "What a mess this turned out to be." Kharlan said as he walked up behind them. "And I'm expecting a guest any day now." Category:Sidestories